Page 38 of Revealing Fate

“Calm your shit, Rask,” Kal barked.

“You’re one to fucking talk,” Rask snapped, baring his throat. “The kid saw her. Practically painted her a fucking escape route.”

Penn turned imploring eyes to Kal. “She asked me questions, Kal. About growing up in Meress. I didn’t know she meant to leave. I swear.”

Kal placed a hand on Penn’s narrow shoulder. “Tell me everything.”

Penn did. He relayed every detail, growing more and more miserable with the telling. Kal only grew more resigned.

“You see,” Rask seethed, pacing nearby. “We need to find her before she finds her way out of the forest. If she reaches a border town and secures passage, it’ll be too late.”

With that, Kal couldn’t argue. The longer they delayed, the higher the chances of Kitty slipping from his grasp and into someone else’s.

“We need to notify the Conclave,” Saul repeated. “They should be here any minute. Then we can deploy a hunting party.”

Kal clenched his jaw at Saul’s final words. He made it sound like they planned to track and kill her.

Rask nodded, a determined set to his fair features.

Not ten minutes later, Santhe pushed through the wall of greenery on the periphery of the property. Three other men and one woman came through after. The Conclave had arrived.

Kal was unaccustomed to welcoming so many visitors, but they filed into his cabin, ignorant of their host’s reservations. Some settled at the dining table or counter, others stood in the kitchen.

“What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into now, son?” Beulah, the lone female member of Meress’s Conclave, spoke in hushed tones to Penn.

Kal didn’t blame the boy. The crushing weight of Kitty’s potential deception rested solely with him.

Kal leaned against a support beam, arms folded across his chest, and surveyed the group. The Conclave had a process for everything. It was pointless to rush them.

“Can we get on with it?” Rask pressed, disinclined to bridle his impatience. “The traitor is probably halfway to Berdeen by now. We should already be hunting.”

Vorak, a tall, spindly man with deepset green eyes and a narrow beard, swiveled his gaze to Rask before addressing the group. “One of the Watch guards, detained a woman on the fringe of the forest a few hours ago. She is young, traveled alone, and was unable to provide a code.”

Kal leaned forward, gaze narrowing on Vorak. Stillwater Watch was the armed faction that operated under the Conclave’s jurisdiction to patrol within the boundaries of Stillwater Wood. One of Kal’s first contributions to Meress had been to help train, outfit, and organize the Watch, taking them from a disjointed group of angry rebels to one capable of real defense and strategic preparedness.

Beulah angled her considerable frame, partially blocking the man from Kal’s view. Penn’s mother was wide in the way her children were tall. Her cheeks were rosy, a flowered bonnet contained her mass of white-blond hair, and flour from her bakery still dusted her apron. “She was incapable of providing the code? Or she didn’t have one?”

Vorak sucked his teeth. “She told the guard, Stonehaugh, she was seeking family in Fahren’s Pass. The missive said she claimed to have not been given a code. She denies traitorous activity.”

“Traitorous to whom? Us? Or Asteros?” Rask demanded.

Kal pushed off from the beam. Why the fuck hadn’t the missive provided a name? “Where is she?”

Vorak swiveled to him. “She is being held in a cell at the Watch’s southern depot.” Green eyes flicked to Saul as he paused. “They’ve requested that the Conclave perform an inquiry.”

Multiple glances were shared among those gathered.

Kal was already turning for the door.

“Kalevar,” Saul called after him. “This woman is in custody of the Stillwater Watch.”

“I heard what he said,” Kal called over his shoulder.

Saul followed him, undeterred. “Then you know full well what this means. You cannot interfere with an inquiry.”

“I know Meress’s laws, Saul. I helped you write them.”

“Then where the hell are you going?”